


falling for you (literally)

by 21byuns



Series: in love with you bro [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: (and all the things that happen after u drink), Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Mentions of alcohol, best friends chanchen, gym owner bbh, jongdae gets a black eye ?, light angst and i mean very light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 11:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20407075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/21byuns/pseuds/21byuns
Summary: jongdae is always forced to go to the gym with chanyeol. it helps, though, that the gym owner has the most beautiful face and the brightest red hair he’d ever seen. is it too early to say he’s in love?





	falling for you (literally)

jongdae smacks chanyeol’s bicep – twice because the other man is so engrossed in his workout he’s not paying attention.

the taller man jumps up slightly, nearly dropping the weight on his foot and glares at jongdae. “what do you want?”

he points to the man who just walked in the gym, his hair a bright fiery auburn, “who’s that?” jongdae questions and chanyeol rolls his eyes. “just because i workout here doesn’t mean i know everyone jongdae,” his friend tells him and jongdae pouts.

the man that has jongdae so enraptured walks past them and jongdae feels almost like he could float behind him, trailing like some cartoon characters from when he was a kid. the man smells like strawberries and jongdae thinks he wants to eat him. which is a bit odd because jongdae has never been into weird stuff like that. but this man might just make him. he wants to lick him. a lot. all over.

but then the man is walking into one of the office rooms and shutting the door, effectively cutting off jongdae’s elaborate fantasies. he thinks he’s definitely screwed because one: he’s never been this attracted to someone and two: he’s going to actually have to come to the gym more often.

-

chanyeol insists on having jongdae learn how to play call of duty. he pesters him on the daily, sometimes even going to the lengths of getting on his knees and clutching jongdae’s legs asking him to play because his friend junmyeon is busy.

today is no exception to his torture. “chanyeol why the fuck do you want me to play this? this game is stupid,” he mutters as his friend tosses him the second controller. they’re sitting cross legged on chanyeol’s bed because they don’t have a tv in their living room, they’re a bit too broke for that and chanyeol’s tv was a gift from his parents.

“jun can’t play and you’re the only other friend i have who i can bully into playing with me,” chanyeol whines. fucking whines.

the game starts up and jongdae reluctantly listens to chanyeol telling him where to make his character run and who to shoot and jongdae hates it but at the same time, he hasn’t seen chanyeol really look carefree and happy like this and damn if he isn’t a sucker for his friend’s happiness.

they play for hours and jongdae eventually gets into it and slightly competitive, though he’d never let chanyeol know that. ever. he looks out the window to see the streetlights glowing in the dark and his stomach grumbles when he thinks about the time. they haven’t eaten all day.

jongdae places the controller down, “chanyeol we should probably eat. do you want me to cook or did you want to tonight?”

his friend, too engrossed in the game to pay attention really, just grunts and jongdae finds himself punching his friends arm again. “hey asshole, you cooking or am i?” he repeats just as chanyeol’s character gets killed and he slams the controller down with a huff and a pout.

chanyeol turns on him with puppy eyes. no. jongdae crosses his arms and gives chanyeol a stern expression. he will not be guilt tripped tonight. no. they’re not eating out.

-

“you know i love you a lot. did you know that jongdae? i love you lots and lots thank you so much for my life you’re the best friend ever,” chanyeol rambles before stuffing his face with the meat they just grilled.

jongdae grunts in response, his wallet feeling disgustingly empty but his heart kind of feels good. he needs to stop being so soft for his friend. acting like chanyeol’s mother. “park chanyeol, if you ask me to eat out one more time this month i’m gonna shove my foot in your mouth and see if that suits you. do you understand?” his friend just nods vigorously.

they’re on a tight enough budget as it is but with how things have been with chanyeol lately, jongdae can’t seem to upset his friend. chanyeol had broken up with his girlfriend just about two weeks ago and they had been together for two years. jongdae had never in his life been so hurt for someone else. he and chanyeol have been friends since they knew how to walk and he’d never seen chanyeol cry. because chanyeol didn’t cry. he was jongdae’s pillar. a gentle giant really but someone who jongdae had always leaned on. he thought maybe they had that weird connection where you can physically feel the others pain. when chanyeol’s heart broke for the first time, so had jongdae’s.

so here they are now, jongdae begrudgingly forking over his cash to the server, his wallet feeling lighter but the smile on chanyeol’s face makes jongdae’s heart feel infinitely bright.

-

they’re at the gym for the fifth time this week and jongdae thinks his arms are going to fall off but he has to see the other man who he so conveniently nicknamed ‘strawberry head’ until he can figure out his name.

he still doesn’t know how chanyeol doesn’t know the man’s name since he’s here more than jongdae, but somehow the man always comes in after they’re already working and is always in the office when they’re leaving so jongdae can never get a name. on top of it all he’s actually being forced to work out. the upside to this: his ass has never looked better.

today junmyeon has joined them and he and chanyeol are off in their own little world because junmyeon – the freak of nature that he is – actually enjoys working out. and he’s a fucking lawyer. a lawyer! who is buff, and short, and jongdae’s type to a T. except, he’s very, very straight – which is also partly jongdae’s type because he only ever seems to crush on straight men.

the strawberry man hasn’t come in yet and jongdae has formulated a plan to finally say something to him. he’s just going to walk up to him and ask his name and number. direct. forward. and if he gets shot down, well, he won’t have to go to the gym anymore so it’s kind of a win-win situation. except jongdae wants to win in the good way. being he gets in this man’s pants. he really wants that.

except the world seems to not be on his side today because when the strawberry man walks past them, jongdae gets up to follow and ever so gracefully steps on the shoelace chanyeol always has to remind him to tie. he doesn’t think he’s ever fallen so hard, or hit his head so hard. jongdae thinks he might have just split his head open on the weight that he now blinks his eyes open to see right next to his head. some blood trickles into his vision and he has to close his eyes.

all he hears before he falls into darkness is an, “oh fuck, what the fuck?” by a voice he doesn’t recognize.

-

jongdae comes to in a hospital bed and he resists the urge to laugh because this isn’t really the first time this has happened. though the last time he had been blackout drunk and woke up handcuffed to the bed because he had…caused some problems while being inebriated.

he notices he can only see out of one eye – the other literally pulsating with pain. he can tell it’s swollen shut and it feels like his entire face his been split open. jongdae groans when the headache finally catches up to him and he thinks he might throw up from the pain. he feels like a complete fucking idiot. only he could manage to screw up this badly trying to just say hi to someone.

the second thing he notices, is someone sitting in the chair in the corner of the room and it’s definitely not chanyeol.

“strawberry man?” jongdae questions, his throat feeling raw so it barely comes out as more than a whisper but this seems to be enough to wake the other man.

he’s curled up in the chair but cracks a giant grin while standing up to come over to the side of jongdae’s bed, “did you just call me strawberry man?” he questions with a gentle laugh and jongdae likes the way his eyes crinkle. and the way his mouth turns almost into a box shape when he smiles. jongdae has the urge to kiss it and he thinks he’s only just now said his first words to the man and he needs to calm down.

strawberry man’s hand brushes some of jongdae’s hair off his forehead and he fights off the urge to shiver. his brain to mouth filter has already failed him anyways. he can’t afford another slip up. “your hair,” he mumbles raising his own hand up to point it out better.

the man laughs again and it’s the most fucking adorable laugh jongdae has ever heard. it’s the only thing he ever wants to hear. he’s so whipped for this guy and he doesn’t even know his name.

“i’m baekhyun. byun baekhyun, so you can stop calling me strawberry man,” he grins. “only if you want to though,” he says cheekily and jongdae wishes his brain wouldn’t short circuit at times like this. he wishes he had more eloquent things to say but all he can say is, “nice name.”

“usually when someone introduces themselves, it’s polite to also do the same,” baekhyun tells him with a smirk.

oh yeah. that’s a thing. “mm jongdae, kim jongdae,” his speech is slurred and he thinks it’s probably cause he’s fairly concussed and they probably have him on so many medications he can’t think straight.

“i already knew that though, your friend had to tell them so they could admit you. i just wanted to see if you remembered. concussions aren’t friends,” the other man explains and jongdae is about to say something because there was something he needed but he can’t quite remember but then chanyeol is slamming open the door, causing light to stream in and jongdae closes his other eye tightly.

“fuck chanyeol, the guy has a concussion you can’t just slam open doors and shit.” the words are from junmyeon who quickly – and thankfully quietly – shuts the door behind him.

“he’s got more than a concussion, he broke his eye socket,” baekhyun supplies and points to the medical chart hanging behind jongdae’s bed. ah, so that’s why his eye feels like it exploded. “i can’t believe this all happened because he slipped. what was he even trying to do?” baekhyun questions like he isn’t sitting right there.

jongdae hears chanyeol gulp from where he’s at and he wishes he could be more aware enough to show chanyeol he will literally murder him if he so much as hints at jongdae’s massive crush on the redhead.

“trying to get some water, but he slipped on his shoelace,” chanyeol explains surprisingly believable. “i always tell him to tie them but he always tells me to shut up, so, instant karma i guess.” this time jongdae raises his fist in an attempt to look murderous but he’s sure it fails miserably.

he’s so…tired. everything still hurts and the medication just makes him woozy and causes the room to look droopy. jongdae manages to mumble something that he hopes sounds like water. junmyeon seems to get the hint and walks out to ask the nurse for some. chanyeol looks between him and baekhyun, gives jongdae a suggestive face and a wink before he too loudly goes, “oh what junmyeon? you need me to come help? gladly!” and then he’s out the door. jongdae, had he been physically well enough to get up, would have drop kicked chanyeol on the spot. 

baekhyun pulls the chair he had previously been sitting in up next to jongdae’s bed and his hand resumes its earlier position of brushing jongdae’s bangs away from his damaged eye. he gives jongdae a guilty look and a half smile, “please don’t sue me for hurting yourself in my gym.”

“no promises,” jongdae mumbles and tries his best to smirk but he’s sure it doesn’t look half as appealing as he wanted it to on account of half his face looking well…like a broken face. 

he falls asleep to no water being brought to him and baekhyun’s hand threading gently through his hair and he wonders maybe if this is what heaven would be like – minus the face. 

-

“hey since you can’t work out with chanyeol anymore, you wanna come hang out with me today?” baekhyun’s voice sounds distorted through the phone and jongdae curses his terrible signal. 

jongdae snorts and pulls his mask down, “don’t you have a gym to run?”. thankfully, a mask and a cap hides most of his face injury and he doesn’t have little kids pointing at him calling him quasimodo anymore. 

“don’t you have a face to make look less gross?” baekhyun fires back and jongdae catches himself sticking out his tongue even though baekhyun can’t see him. he doesn’t need to know jongdae was already on the way to the gym to meet baekhyun. 

“asshole,” jongdae replies dryly and pushes open the doors to reveal baekhyun actually at the front desk this time, spinning around in a chair while flipping a pen around in between his fingers. jongdae tries not to stare at that and think about other uses for them. 

baekhyun hangs up the phone and runs up to give jongdae a hug – somehow they managed to start talking more after the whole incident (baekhyun had gotten his phone number off his medical chart and texted him asking again not to sue him) and now they were at the hugging stage. he squeezes jongdae a little too hard and he wants to kick him in the shins but the redhead is pulling off with a lazy grin. 

“i knew you couldn’t resist my charms,” baekhyun tells him and jongdae rolls his eyes. of course, he’s right but that is another thing to add to the growing list of ‘things baekhyun doesn’t need fed to his ego’. 

jongdae punches his arm and the other pretends it hurt, rubbing the spot and making a light sound and jongdae wants to hit him again. “i can’t stand you. i don’t know why we became friends. we’re nothing alike,” he tells baekhyun and the redhead gives him a knowing look because sadly, they’re so freakishly alike it’s scary. junmyeon calls them twin souls. those words make jongdae’s stomach feel like a mini rave is happening inside. 

baekhyun ignores the quip and stands with his hands on his hips, giving jongdae a once over. he gives a smile and jongdae ignores how it makes his stomach flip. baekhyun’s smiles should be considered the eighth wonder of the world. they’re so genuine with the way his eyes crinkle and jongdae really has trouble not falling in love. he can hear chanyeol’s “whipped. so whipped,” on repeat in his mind. 

“so, what are we doing today quasi?” baekhyun asks and dodges the slap jongdae aims at his arm.

“i figured we could see a matinée showing of some movie since it’s cheaper, then we could go grab takeout and head back to my place and i could destroy your ass in mario kart,” jongdae suggests because maybe he has a plan to woo baekhyun. who wouldn’t swoon over a movie, food and childish video games?

the redhead tilts his head and gives a considering look, going so far as to even hum a “hmmm.” he grins at jongdae and he swears baekhyun’s eyes twinkle, but it may just be the fluorescent lights from the gym lobby. “i don’t think my ass is the one that’s going to be destroyed but that sounds like a pretty good plan. what movie?” 

“we’re gonna close our eyes and pick a random one.”

“that’s the worst idea ever jongdae.”

he shrugs, “it’s not like i’ll be able to fully appreciate it anyways,” and points to his eye. baekhyun laughs a full body laugh before he tugs jongdae out of the door. 

jongdae is the one who’s ass gets handed to him. how was he supposed to know baekhyun was so good at mario kart? he never came in anything less than first place. it was unbelievable. 

baekhyun had hugged him before leaving the apartment that night and jongdae realized just how deeply screwed he was. 

-

“chanyeol, i literally could not be more in love,” jongdae whines from his spot on the couch while chanyeol plays his video game. 

his friend huffs in acknowledgement but other than that makes no move to conversate with jongdae. he frowns and pulls off a sock to throw at the back of chanyeol’s head and the taller man tugs off his headphones and turns around with a frown. jongdae gives his best pout, because chanyeol deserves the guilt – jongdae had listened to chanyeol rant about basketball for hours just yesterday, he could at least listen to jongdae about the love of his life. 

chanyeol rolls his eyes with a grin and leaves his ‘gaming chair’ to join jongdae on the couch, tugging him close, pulling jongdae into his chest. “tell papa chanyeol all about your love life,” he muses and ruffles jongdae’s hair. 

“first of all, please don’t ever call yourself ‘papa chanyeol’ again, that was disgusting. second of all, i really like baekhyun, chanyeol. like,” he pauses, trying to find the right way to articulate his feelings rather than just screaming incoherently because that’s all his mind does when baekhyun is near. he admits it’s not the most mature reaction but he can’t help it. when baekhyun looks at him, his heart explodes into what feels like a billion butterflies. “he just makes me happy chanyeol. i haven’t felt this happy in a long time,” he finishes and that seems to be fitting for his feelings now that he thinks about them. 

“you deserve to be happy,” chanyeol tells him and pats his head gently, pulling his hair away from his forehead. “he seems to like you well enough even though your eye looked really disgusting there for a couple weeks. at least now you just have this gross bruise.” he pokes softly at the purple underneath jongdae’s eye. “i think you should say something –” jongdae gives him a pointed look, “– which i know is difficult but from what i can see, it looks like he may like you too. he even let you call him strawberry head.”

“he has a pretty strawberry head,” jongdae continues to pout. telling baekhyun is really out of the question. they’re good friends now. baekhyun sends him regular selfies when he’s at the gym, always captioning them with something funny related to jongdae’s incident. jongdae definitely doesn’t have them saved to his phone or anything. jongdae responds back but usually with less pictures, he doesn’t think he can quite compare to baekhyun even if the other does send a string of heart emojis when he does. 

“just invite him out for dinner and have it be a date but not a date, you know what i’m saying?” chanyeol tells him, nudging him slightly. 

jongdae tilts his head to meet chanyeol’s eyes peering down at him, “what do you mean?”

“invite him out like normal, but make it kind of romantic. go to a fancy place, dress up a little and if he asks if it’s a date or something, just shrug it off,” he explains and for once, chanyeol hasn’t come up with a completely terrible plan. 

“is that what you do to all the girls yeol?”

“something like that, except at the end of the night we end up in someone’s bed,” his friend smirks when jongdae slaps his chest and gets up. 

jongdae pinches chanyeol’s ear as he heads into his room, “thank you chanyeol. i know you don’t really wanna hear about relationships right now, so i appreciate it.”

his friend just gives him a warm smile, “you’re my best friend jongdae, even if you’re an ass sometimes.”

-

he figures, today of all days would be a good time to execute his plan. baekhyun had sent him a text after closing the gym for the night asking if he could come crash at jongdae’s place since it was closer than his own apartment. 

‘we can go out to dinner if you want too?’ 

‘there’s this cool place i wanted to try’

baekhyun messages back almost immediately.

‘): didn’t really feel up to going out tonight’

‘long day’

‘i can explain later but can we just cuddle?’

who is jongdae to deny baekhyun cuddles? even though his original plan has been shot down, it might be better this way. 

about half an hour later, the redhead steps through the apartment and jongdae texts him to let him know to just come into his bedroom. 

when he sees baekhyun his heartstrings tug, the other man looks rough, which is saying something. baekhyun never looks rough. it’s one of the things jongdae love/hates about him. he always looks amazing, regardless of his clothes or amount of sleep. 

baekhyun immediately flops down on the bed, curling up to jongdae, his head finding itself right beneath jongdae’s chin. 

“what happened today?” jongdae asks, his chin tapping the mop of hair beneath him. 

“stupid ex came in today and asked for a membership…for a year long membership,” baekhyun mutters and nuzzles his head deeper into jongdae’s chest. “which means i have to see him every day i work. and on top of all of that, one of my employees dropped a medicine ball on their foot and crushed it, so, now i’m down an employee and i had to see what a crushed foot looks like. i don’t do well with injuries jongdae.”

he lies there quietly for a moment, wondering what he can say to make baekhyun feel better but his mind draws a blank. instead he opts to drop a kiss to the top of baekhyun’s head and wraps his arms around him tighter. 

“you’ll be fine strawberry man. you saw my eye and you still put up with me,” jongdae manages to say after a long while. 

he doesn’t receive a response from baekhyun and he pulls back just enough to look down and see the other man is fast asleep. 

jongdae savors the moment, thinking about how great this feels and about how much he’d love for this to happen every night. he drops another kiss to baekhyun’s head and closes his eyes, hoping to fall asleep as well. 

-

something changes after that night. if jongdae thought they were close before, it’s like he can’t escape baekhyun now. the other clinging to him every second they’re together, always finding excuses to touch him, brush his hand on his hip, move hair off of his forehead. of course, jongdae basks in it all, loving the way baekhyun’s hands feel against his body, leaving fiery little touches in their wake. jongdae thinks he’s in love and chanyeol tells him it’s probably too early to love. jongdae usually doesn’t respond. 

he actually goes to the gym today – to work out for once – and chanyeol teases him the whole way there. 

“going to see your boyfriend?” he pokes at jongdae’s side while they walk, “wasn’t he over last night or was that some other red haired man sneaking out this morning? i can’t believe you guys fucked inside my apartment,” chanyeol continues on a little too loudly as they cross the threshold into the gym and jongdae smacks him as hard as he possibly can. 

“if you don’t keep your fucking voice down park chanyeol i’m going to drop a weight on your toes and then pick it up, and drop it again,” he spits out under his breath and grabs chanyeol’s bicep to pull him into the locker rooms where junmyeon is waiting for them. they pass by the front desk and baekhyun isn’t there. thankfully. 

after he swings the door open and shoves chanyeol inside he smacks him again and huffs as he walks to his locker. “i haven’t said anything to baekhyun you asshole,” jongdae relents, his voice tired. he doesn’t like to be angry at chanyeol and the other looks at him with a pitying and apologetic look. “so obviously we didn’t fuck in our apartment,” he explains and pulls his sweatshirt off to tug on his gym shirt, “he’s been having a rough couple of days and our apartment is closer. i’ve been letting him hang out at our place cause he shouldn’t have to be alone 

“i’m sorry jongdae, if i had known, i wouldn’t joke about it all the time,” his friend explains and he gives jongdae a sincere look to which he can’t be mad at. he slips on the leggings and basketball shorts, then walks over to chanyeol and gives his bicep a squeeze, this time much softer and gives him a small smile knowing that’ll show more how he feels. chanyeol may be a brainless fuckboy at sometimes but he’s also one of the best friends jongdae has ever had and he’s glad the other knows when to stop.

junmyeon pads in from behind a shower curtain, having needed to shower because of his job earlier in the day and he greets the pair with finger guns and grabs his headphones, sticking them in his ears before heading out the swinging door and into the gym. chanyeol rolls his eyes with jongdae at the other man’s antics and they soon follow.

baekhyun has appeared at the desk by the time they start on legs and jongdae tries not to get hurt again as they go through their routine. all jongdae can think about is how embarrassing he probably looks as he goes through the motions. people rarely ever look hot while they lift weights. junmyeon might be an exception though, jongdae notes as he stares at his friend in the mirror.  _ his fucking thighs. _

they’re all almost done when someone walks in the door and jongdae sees baekhyun visibly tense. the guy is massive and jongdae thinks for a moment that the man could probably even crush chanyeol. he stops thinking about that because he’s walking up to the front desk with a smirk on his face and jongdae realizes this is baekhyun’s ex.

his mind and body are on autopilot as he pushes chanyeol aside and makes his way to the front desk, coming up behind the chair baekhyun sits in. jongdae leans down and places a kiss to the redhead’s cheek, “babe, we just finished and myeon wanted to know if you could come with us for dinner tonight,” he says just a bit too loudly.

baekhyun sucks in a breath – that jongdae notices and does admittedly feel bad about but he’s not quite thinking. “i don’t know,” baekhyun begins, his voice sounding rough. he clears his throat and looks back at jongdae with an unreadable expression, “i don’t have anyone here to watch the front desk yet until donghae shows up.”

he threads his hand through baekhyun’s, giving it a little squeeze, hopefully to relay the unspoken message. “i’ll wait with you for him then. wouldn’t want my boyfriend to be alone at work. not when we have special plans after dinner,” jongdae makes sure so give his eyebrows a greasy wave that has baekhyun look like he’s trying to hold in a laugh.

a cough breaks them out of their little world and jongdae looks up to see the giant standing there at the counter, looking between baekhyun and jongdae’s clasped hands. he gives jongdae a once over and looks unimpressed. jongdae holds in the urge to latch onto the man like a spider monkey and take him down. baekhyun must feel it because he squeezes jongdae’s hand and stands up.

“great to see you here,” baekhyun tells the man who snorts before tugging his gym bag higher on his shoulder and walking off towards the locker rooms.

jongdae turns to baekhyun and looks down at their joined hands, lets go quickly and tries his best not to look caught. “sorry about that umm… you just looked like you needed an out,” he mumbles while wringing his hands. only now does he realize how uncomfortable he could’ve made baekhyun.

the redhead gently punches jongdae’s shoulder, “don’t worry about it. i appreciate the help. that was the ex i mentioned. he never really takes a hint.” he pulls out his phone and types a quick message. “donghae said he’ll be here in a few minutes,” baekhyun pauses and looks up at him with soft eyes, “i’d love to join you guys if you really are going out.”

jongdae nods his head, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

-

jongdae ends up heading back to baekhyun’s apartment after they finish the group dinner. he’s only been over to baekhyun’s a few times because he’s not close enough to jongdae and chanyeol’s job and jongdae hates walking. on top of it all it means he either has to stay the night or have baekhyun drive him home super late at night and he doesn’t want to feel like a burden to the other man, especially considering how much he bled on his gym floor.

“make yourself comfortable as always, i’m just gonna change and then i’ll give you some clothes to borrow if you’d like,” baekhyun explains as they step through the place. it’s not that big but it’s clean and baekhyun actually has a living room with a television instead of a sad excuse for a couch.

he means to tell baekhyun he doesn’t need clothes and it was probably a bad idea to even come here but baekhyun has already walked through his bedroom door. jongdae frowns. he’s really got to get himself under control. just a few days ago he’d meant to ask baekhyun on a date – an actual date – and his plans fell through. he’s not sure if he can handle the rejection now. he’s in too deep. all he wants to do is make sure baekhyun is happy. he’s screwed.

the redhead pads out from his bedroom with a change of clothes for jongdae and he tries not to stare at how tiny baekhyun looks in his giant hoodie or plaid sleep pants. baekhyun isn’t supposed to be cute. baekhyun is supposed to be hot and jongdae wants him. all of him. jongdae hates him.

“i’m not sure how these will fit but we’re the same size almost so it should work,” baekhyun tells him with a soft smile and jongdae fucking swoons.

he accepts the clothes and makes his way into baekhyun’s room trying to remember how to breathe properly. he knows he’s definitely in way too deep now. not only is baekhyun the most attractive person jongdae has ever seen, he’s also the nicest, and they can share clothes without it being weird because they’re the same fucking size. it’s like they were made for each other.

jongdae’s heart thuds in his chest when he pulls on the sweatshirt baekhyun gave him. it smells like strawberries and vanilla – just like baekhyun of course. it’s something he wants to smell for the rest of his life. and then he realizes how weird he’s acting right now. smelling baekhyun’s clothes and imagining their future.

baekhyun is sitting on the couch, his knees brought up to his chin and he’s scrolling through the channels on his tv when jongdae comes to sit next to him. the redhead immediately lets his body tilt and fall to rest on jongdae’s shoulder. “what should we watch?” he questions and pushes his head further into jongdae’s shoulder. he winces for baekhyun. that can’t be comfortable. his shoulder is really bony.

“it’s your tv, in your apartment, what do you think we should watch?” jongdae asks, his voice a little tight. he’s not upset but if baekhyun continues to act like this he might explode.

“we don’t have to watch anything if you don’t want,” baekhyun says slowly and jongdae wonders if he’s already tired judging by the way he’s speaking. they were out quite late.

“we can go to bed yeah that sounds good,” he tells baekhyun who looks mildly confused for a moment and has leaned back to look jongdae in the eyes. “jongdae i wasn’t – never mind. uh yeah, let’s just go to bed,” baekhyun says. jongdae thinks the other man really must be tired, his voice sounds strained and a little mild with something behind it.

baekhyun gets up from where he’s at and tugs jongdae towards his room before pushing him onto the bed and climbing himself over to the other side. he frowns the whole time and jongdae wonders what he did. he thought they’d be tired and it would be better for them to just sleep it off.

“are you mad at me?” he questions and that seems to break baekhyun out of whatever funk he was in because he turns to face jongdae once they’re settled next to each other in the bed and flicks his forehead.

“why would i be mad at you?”

jongdae pokes baekhyun’s cheek, “you frowned.”

“why would that be your fault though?” baekhyun presses and he’s got a tiny little smirk on his face.

“i don’t know, sometimes i get nervous around you. like i’m a burden to you,” jongdae answers honestly. he blames it on how late at night it is. everyone knows that when it gets to be late at night like this, the mouth to brain filter is nonexistent.

baekhyun laughs and this time it’s his turn to poke jongdae’s cheek. his eyes are sparkling and jongdae melts. his mind just yells at him.

“you’re not a burden to me jongdae. you’re my friend. friends aren’t a burden. and you’re cute, that’s why i keep you around so much.” baekhyun runs his fingers along jongdae’s cheek, causing him to shiver and jongdae knows this is definitely flirting and maybe a little something more but he can’t bring himself to do anything.

“haha…” he laughs quietly and shuts his eyes to avoid seeing the literal galaxies in baekhyun’s puppy eyes. “thanks,” he mumbles weakly and feels the fingers brush back some hair behind his ear. his heart beats loudly in his chest and he’s afraid it’s too quiet in the room and that baekhyun will definitely hear and then he will definitely be fucked.

baekhyun’s hand leaves his cheek and jongdae has an internal crisis. he wants baekhyun’s hands on him always but he’s terrified the other man will finally  _ know. _

“goodnight jongdae.”

a beat of silence and jongdae smiles to himself. no matter what he loves the way his name rolls off baekhyun’s tongue.

“goodnight strawberry man.”

-

it’s been a couple weeks since the whole ‘is this a fight? this kind of seemed like a little fight even if we weren’t really together’ fiasco and jongdae doesn’t know where he and baekhyun stand. it’s strange because sometimes they act like they’re together. baekhyun touches him more often – and he already is very touchy with jongdae. his hands linger when he brushes jongdae’s hair behind his ear, or when he grabs his wrist, or if he somehow has to walk past jongdae, his hand presses against the small of his back with purpose. it’s driving jongdae insane. but he knows he’s also to blame.

he’s visiting baekhyun at work today, not to work out, just to keep him company behind the counter and bring some food. jongdae has just decided to continue to fuck himself really, and do whatever his heart tells him. today it’s told him the chair baekhyun sits in always is definitely big enough to hold both of them and he has been sitting in baekhyun’s lap while they watch dumb videos on his phone for about an hour now.

“okay, okay you gotta get off,” baekhyun tells him groaning slightly as he pushes at jongdae’s back, “i can’t feel my toes and even though your ass is very cushioned, it’s bony.”

just as jongdae is about to get up, baekhyun’s ex walks in the door looking like more of an asshole if it was possible. jongdae plants himself back in baekhyun’s lap, the other letting out a surprised huff.

he decides that baekhyun’s collarbones look like a nice place to rest his head and he turns so he’s sitting basically wrapped around baekhyun, straddling him with his head against his neck. his hand comes up to trace baekhyun’s collarbones in the most possessive way he can think possible because he really doesn’t like the way this guy still looks at baekhyun. even if the man could throw jongdae across the room he wants the point to get across this time. it’s a bit primitive but sue him, baekhyun deserves better than the meat head and okay maybe jongdae is a slight bit possessive when baekhyun isn’t even really his. he swears he has an answer to all the feelings and questions floating around in his head but right now he kind of likes sitting like this in baekhyun’s lap. he very much likes the noise baekhyun makes when he scoots closer.

“i see you’ve moved on quickly then,” jongdae hears a voice that doesn’t belong to baekhyun say. he doesn’t look up at the other man and simply tilts his face so it’s angled at baekhyun’s neck. he whispers a really dumb joke chanyeol told him yesterday into the redhead’s ear which causes him to break into an only slightly obnoxious laugh.

when the laughter quiets down he feels when baekhyun says, “it was pretty easy, there wasn’t much to move on from.” jongdae feels the shrug and he resists the urge to smile. now isn’t the time.

“we dated for two years baekhyun,” the man says stiffly and jongdae’s eyes widen. two years is a long fucking time. he jerks his head back to look at baekhyun and the redhead at least has the decency to look apologetic.

“why are you trying to discuss this in my gym of all places?” baekhyun tilts his head looking fed up.

“you blocked my number and left with all of your things, leaving no new address. how else am i supposed to?”

jongdae feels baekhyun tense below him and this is such an awkward position for him. he feels like he really shouldn’t be here. like he’s intruding. these are things baekhyun hasn’t told him despite their friendship and he doesn’t want to hear things he shouldn’t.

he turns to face the man – really confused where any of his bravery is coming from lately – “i have a feeling you’re just here to try and ruin things between baekhyun and i now. i’d really appreciate i if you left so we can go fuck in the locker rooms without being disturbed by a giant ogre. you’re really ruining the mood.”

baekhyun gapes and quickly shuts his mouth, jongdae is glad for that. his face is on fire and he probably looks like an idiot but he doesn’t care. baekhyun has told him about a couple instances where the man has come in when baekhyun was alone and wouldn’t leave him alone until another customer came up to interrupt. he’s tired of baekhyun having to deal with the other man despite the hint he dropped last time.

the man mutters something before rolling his eyes and walking deep into the gym to go actually work out and take advantage of that year long membership he purchased.

jongdae quickly removes himself from baekhyun’s lap, the moment of bravery now over and he barely says goodbye to baekhyun before he grabs his things and stumbles out the gym and calling chanyeol.

-

“you said you guys were gonna fuck in the locker room?” chanyeol spits out the ramen that was halfway in his mouth and jongdae experiences many emotions at once. first, disgust at having to actually see that. second, anger because some of it got on the table. third, fear because, “holy fuck chanyeol, can you tell the rest of the world while you’re at it? i don’t think the entire ramen shop heard. you should be louder.”

his friend gives him an apologetic look and glances around the rest of the shop, waving his apologies to everyone staring at them. his voice is lower this time when he leans in and asks, “why did you say that jongdae?”

jongdae throws up his hands and slurps up some of his ramen, “brain disconnect i guess.” he leans back and makes himself smaller in the booth. “i feel so dumb chanyeol. so…stupid. what’s he going to think now?”

“i don’t know if i’m really the best person for this,” chanyeol explains his voice apologetic. “you might really just have to tell him now jongdae. it seems like you owe him that.”

“what if he thinks i only want him for sex now?”

chanyeol frowns. “jongdae, i know you’re both dense but…i don’t think that’s what he’ll assume.”

“but chanyeol-”

“ _ but chanyeol,  _ my ass,” his friend mocks, “tell him jongdae. like i said. you can’t keep being afraid of these things. you deserve to be happy. baekhyun makes you happy -  _ you  _ told me that. let him make you happy.”

jongdae looks at chanyeol, surprised at the honest wisdom and the sentiment of it all. “thank you chanyeol.” he pays for their noodles that night. he also asks chanyeol to cuddle when they get home. chanyeol begrudgingly agrees. jongdae thinks he has the best, best-friend to exist.

-

he ignores chanyeol’s advice of course. no one ever said jongdae was the intelligent one out of their friend group.

there’s just something so daunting of actually having to face baekhyun and tell him that he’s not quite in love but he’s definitely getting there and all he wants to do is spend all of his time curled up in baekhyun’s arms. he wants to wake up every morning with baekhyun. he wants to bang baekhyun. so badly. on every surface they have in both of their apartments. he wants to adopt a dog with baekhyun. he wants to share clothes with baekhyun and buy groceries together and he just so badly wants to be with baekhyun he thinks his heart might physically explode.

his natural reaction to all this and his fuck up in front of baekhyun’s ex? avoidance. he hasn’t gone to the gym. not even when chanyeol begs him, always claiming he’s picking up an extra shift at work. which, he is, but chanyeol is starting to catch on. it’s difficult to avoid him when they live together. he’s been giving jongdae long, pointed ‘mom looks’.

jongdae needs to get drunk.

“chanyeol i’m going out with jongin,” he tells his friend quickly before he can object. he knows chanyeol will berate him in the morning when he gets back but that’s for ‘morning jongdae’ to deal with.

while riding to the club jongdae peeks at his phone to see a few messages from baekhyun – all unanswered. he hasn’t had the heart to read all of them but the most recent one is just a single sad face and if that doesn’t break his heart, he’s not sure what does. he knows it’s shitty to do this to baekhyun, but he swears he’ll pull his head out of his ass after tonight. jongdae just, has to get plastered and forget about everything for now. a very adult way of handling things. truly.

jongin apparently decided to invite sehun, minseok and yixing. jongdae realizes this was probably a bad idea because the more people, the drunker he has to get. that’s just how it is. more people equals more rounds of drinks equals happier jongdae. he’s so screwed.

two hours and a lost count of shots later, jongdae is sitting on the floor which is very comfortable. he’s not sure where on the floor he is. someone is standing next to him laughing and he looks up at them and tries to laugh too but it sounds weird. they’re too far away to hear him. he frowns. he’s gotta fix that. he’s going to stand. he really is. except, it’s really hard to stand. really, really hard. and that’s hilarious to him.

“can’t even stand up,” he slurs and grabs onto the seat next to him. except that set isn’t very friendly and it falls down on top of him and now he’s on the ground of the club and someone is standing over him snapping in his face. he slaps the hand away, “mmm no… am trying to stand up but the chair,” he motions towards it on top of him, “it’s so mean to me.”

god he feels like he’s going to vomit. he’s got terrible motion sickness and everything is so funny to him when deep in his mind he knows lying on the floor of a dirty club isn’t funny. he’s never been a good drinker.

the chair is removed suddenly and another person comes to stand over him. their head blocks out the light above him and he sees red hair.  _ baekhyun?  _ it couldn’t be baekhyun. it shouldn’t be. baekhyun can’t see him like this. he’s too drunk. must be seeing things. except the hands on him he couldn’t mistake for anyone else. it’s definitely baekhyun tugging him up and pulling him into his body, allowing jongdae to lean on him.

“strawberry man,” he mumbles as they stumble along, baekhyun basically supporting jongdae’s entire weight. “not ‘sposed to be here.” he frowns and tries to pull away but baekhyun huffs and pulls him closer.

“chanyeol couldn’t come, he’s busy at junmyeon’s. jongin texted him and he texted me, so i guess i’m all you got,” baekhyun tells him, voice very tight and jongdae knows that he definitely fucked up.

“s-sorry. ‘m so sorry baekhyun. i don’t wanna ignore you,” he tries to say coherently as baekhyun shoves him in the passenger seat of his car. he leans his forehead against the window, knocking against it slightly when he realizes he can’t roll it down.

baekhyun gets in the other side and jongdae is drunk, but even drunk jongdae can see the blatant anger on baekhyun’s features. “at least you admit it,” the redhead tells him. jongdae kind of wants to cry right now. he’s never cried in his whole life but today really might be the first.

he tries to just, turn to face baekhyun, but ends up kind of slumped over the center console, “baekhyun ‘m gonna cry. do you want me to cry? i’ve never cried before,” he says maybe a little too loud. he can’t control it. “but i made you sad and that makes me sad. so sad baekhyun.” he lets his head drop and it lands half on the seat and half on baekhyun’s bicep and he whines. “i don’t want you sad baekhyun. i wanna make you happy all the time baekhyun. all the time.”

“you do make me happy, you asshole. very happy. sometimes so happy, i get scared because what will i do when that happiness decides to leave me?” baekhyun tells him and that’s… that hurt.

“is that why you’re not with your ex anymore?” jongdae asks. which is dumb because hadn’t his ex said baekhyun was the one to leave?

baekhyun shakes his head. “no, he was cheating on me. he didn’t think i knew. cheated on me nearly the whole second year we were together. he still doesn’t know i know. but do you know how terrible that feels? to be lied to for a whole year? to think someone who loves you and makes you happy, was making someone else feel the same way at the same time?” he takes his eyes off the road when they approach a red light and jongdae stares up at him and feels like shit. he’s truly digging himself into the deepest hole.

“’m sorry. you- you don’t deserve that. you deserve someone who can make you happy forever,” he tells baekhyun as sincerely as his drunken self can. “happy forever and ever.”

baekhyun doesn’t respond. just brings his other hand up to push away the bangs from jongdae’s forehead. tucks it behind his ear and gives him a soft smile.

jongdae’s mind goes blank. the rest of the night comes to him in random bursts. them parking. baekhyun helping him up to his apartment. he’s saying something to baekhyun. something important. he’s crying a bit. baekhyun is suddenly leading him into the bathroom. he’s throwing up. he’s saying something else to baekhyun. the world is spinning. he’s lying on the cold floor of baekhyun’s bathroom. he’s miserable. nothing will stop moving. baekhyun is saying something. he’s throwing up again. he’s the worlds worst person.

-

he comes to at around four in the morning, lying in baekhyun’s bed, curled up to the other man’s chest. the world has stopped spinning – thank god – but his head is pounding and the smell of strawberries and vanilla is actually making it worse. he’s thirsty. so, so thirsty.

but… he doesn’t want to pull away from baekhyun. call him selfish but this is all that he’s ever wanted. to wake up like this. tucked underneath baekhyun’s chin, hearing his soft breath above him. hands clenched in baekhyun’s shirt. god, he just wants to stay like this forever.

“jongdae?” the morning silence is interrupted by baekhyun’s groggy voice. jongdae momentarily wonders if someone can be attracted to a voice.

he pulls away from the redhead to put some space in-between them. baekhyun’s curtains are drawn back so the moonlight illuminates the room just enough for him to see baekhyun looking at him. he’s so beautiful and jongdae’s still a bit too drunk to the point where he might do something dumb. something like kiss baekhyun because it’s not like he’ll remember it when he wakes back up. this could be his only chance.

except he doesn’t get that chance because baekhyun’s hand has made its way to cup jongdae’s jaw, his thumb brushing the apple of his cheek slowly. “i think you’re beautiful,” baekhyun whispers.

jongdae opens his mouth to say something. to give an answer. to do something. anything except what happens. he throws up on baekhyun’s bed. “oh my god that’s actually the worst thing i think i’ve ever done, oh my god.” he rushes to the bathroom.

somehow, baekhyun takes it all in stride. he’s sitting on the edge of his bathtub, rubbing soothing circles into jongdae’s back while he finishes what he’d started in the bedroom. he’s murmuring words to jongdae which he can’t quite catch considering his head is basically shoved in a toilet bowl.

nearly half an hour later, jongdae finds himself sitting on baekhyun’s couch, wrapped up in a blanket and holding a cup of water. baekhyun has been dutifully cleaning his bedsheets and jongdae only catches a few glances while he walks back and forth from his apartment door to the laundry room down the hall. he feels terrible.

finally, after what feels like years, baekhyun joins him on the couch. “you brushed your teeth, right?” jongdae nods. multiple times. he thinks his gums might bleed.

“good,” baekhyun says with a nod and then he’s leaning forward and pressing his lips against jongdae’s. jongdae melts. he melts and pulls baekhyun closer to him, allowing the redhead to lie against him. they kiss and kiss and kiss until jongdae can’t breathe.

and then his brain catches up to him. he puts his hands on baekhyun’s shoulders, pushes him off slightly. “umm… not that i’m upset about this sudden revelation but, why are we kissing now?”

baekhyun smirks, “well, last night you conveniently spilled your guts to me. and i mean, you really said it all. said you wanted to hug and kiss me. wanted me to fuck you against every piece of furniture – except chanyeol’s bed, you really were adamant about that. wanted me to call you my boyfriend. wanted to adopt a dog with me as well. there’s more stuff but i think i’d like to keep some of it to myself.”

jongdae blanches. of course.  _ of course.  _ his drunken self would tell baekhyun everything. if his normal, sober self can have no brain to mouth filter, why did he think his drunk self would be any better? “well that, um, i guess pretty much encapsulates it all.”

“do i also make you so happy to the point where it feels like there’s a rave inside your stomach?” baekhyun asks slyly and jongdae wants to bury himself in the blankets curled around him.

“ah, so you heard that too,” he says. it’s not really a question. his cheeks are on fire. his ears feel like they’re going to melt off.

the redhead nods, “like i said, you told me a lot.”

“you do.”

“i didn’t realize we were getting married right away?”

jongdae smacks his arm. “ _ you do _ make me so happy that it feels like raves are going on in my stomach when you smile at me. you make me feel so many things that i don’t think there’s words for them.”

in lieu of an answer, baekhyun kisses him again. this time though, he pulls away quickly and places kisses all over jongdae’s face. kisses the freckles on the side of his head twice. smiles as he kisses against the shell of jongdae’s ear and it’s an evil smile. he shivers.

“wait, wait, to fuel my ego can i please hear your confirmation of feelings?” jongdae interrupts. he’s trying to play it off as a joke but he really is nervous. as much as he loves kissing baekhyun, he has to make sure they both know what page they’re on.

“you idiot, i’ve had the most earthshattering crush on you since you fell and broke your eye in my gym. somehow, only you could make a broken eye look good. you also make me very, very happy and every time you look at me i feel like i’m going to melt through the floor. so yes, i definitely feel the same way.” baekhyun rests his face against jongdae’s chest when he finishes and jongdae feels his breath puff against his bare skin.

“i’m not gonna be the happiness that leaves you,” jongdae tells him. he plants a kiss to the top of baekhyun’s red hair. wraps his arms around him.

baekhyun presses his face further into jongdae’s chest. makes a noise. “of course,  _ that’s  _ the thing you remember from last night.” he sits up in jongdae’s grasp. narrows his eyes. “did you know i was so mad at you? so angry at you for ignoring me instead of just, talking to me. i thought we were closer than that.”

jongdae wants to melt and not in a good way. “i was…nervous. the way i acted in front of your ex. that’s not normally like me. and then i realized after i mentioned the sex part, that you’d assume i only wanted you for sex.”

“you’re so fucking dense. why would i call you to come cuddle with me if i thought that?”

he shrugs. chanyeol’s words come back to haunt him. “i’m not very good at stuff like this. would you believe me if i said that i truly was just too scared to tell you?”

baekhyun drops his head to jongdae’s chest again, bangs it lightly against his sternum. “well in that case, we’re going to have to be really good at talking about things in the future,” he pauses. plants a kiss there. “because kim jongdae i swear, if you pull some dumb stunt like that again, that’ll mean no more kisses from me. got it? communication jongdae. even if you’re scared of what i’ll say.” he places another kiss in that same spot, then another next to it, and another next to that.

“tell you, even if i’m scared. okay,” jongdae manages through shaky breaths. baekhyun hasn’t stopped his ministrations and continues to plant kisses all along jongdae’s chest. his face grows warm again. “wait, wait, i have to interrupt again,” he stutters and grabs baekhyun’s face in between his hands again, tilting the redhead up to look at him. “i just, i wanted to tell you that i’m not  _ in  _ love with you, but i like you? a lot. and it could definitely be love soon i mean i might have let it slip to chanyeol that i love you but it was just me ranting to him but i don’t know how soon is too soon? this was supposed to be my kind of confession that i haven’t really had time to plan, i don’t even know what i’m saying anymore oh my god baekhyun, do you see what you do to me?” and god if baekhyun’s eyes don’t sparkle like they hold the entire universe in them.

“if it helps, just know i feel the same way. i know sometimes, i joke too much, but jongdae you mean a lot to me, as a friend obviously but now something more. and it’s okay if you want to say you’re in love now. i know we’ll get there because i don’t plan on letting you go any time soon,” baekhyun murmurs, though it sounds slightly distorted because jongdae is squeezing his cheeks a bit. “i’m also, a teensy, tiny bit ‘maybe in love’ with you too okay? but please no more interruptions i want to get started on what you so conveniently confessed to me last night.” he tries to smirk but it looks funny between his squished cheeks. jongdae leans forward and even though the angle hurts, kisses him deeply.

“can we adopt a dog?” jongdae asks - just to be a bother - when he pulls back.

baekhyun smacks his arm but grins into the next kiss, “i’ll think about it.”

\-- 

**Author's Note:**

> i promised a baekchen prequel and i delivered (for once). 
> 
> umm anyways i hope u enjoyed, comments and kudos are always appreciated ♡
> 
> follow me on twt [@baekdaelight](https://twitter.com/baekdaelight) if u enjoyed this


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